November 1, 2013

Nigerian Pastor to Visit Australia

By Mal Vickers

I’m not necessarily anti-religious. However, when a religious issue crosses into something so thoroughly against reason and potentially dangerous to human life, I think it’s time to speak out.

Melbourne is scheduled to play host to a Nigerian pastor named Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye who will speak at two evangelical events on 12 & 13 November 2013. The visit to Melbourne is part of a tour of other Australian cities and the Pacific Islands.

Pastor Adeboye (via Wikipedia)
Pastor Adeboye (via Wikipedia)

A pastor visits Australia; no big deal, you might think. Pastor Adeboye has 98 thousand followers on Twitter, 1.2 million ‘likes’ on Facebook, is head of a church that claims to own 14 thousand branches in 160 countries and owns a private jet.

Now, add some interesting comments about homosexuality and the existence of witches and you have some understanding of why I’m concerned.

This is a skeptic blog; however, I’ll try to work through the evidence and apply some critical thinking.

Here’s a comment attributed to Pastor Adeboye:

“Same-sex marriage is an anathema to the will of God for human beings to be fruitful, replenish and multiply on earth. Anything contrary to that is evil….If this evil is allowed to stay, there will not be newborns again in the world. As the older generation dies, will there be a new generations to succeed it? Even plants and animals have new generations to succeed them.”

How does this claim stack up against the evidence?

One of the premises behind this statement is that View More Nigerian Pastor to Visit Australia

7 Comments
October 31, 2013

November 2013 Puzzles

crosswordclipartThere are seven brand new Picture Puzzles

and

thirty “Mixed Bag” Questions

at the top of the PUZZLES PAGE.

and also NOVEMBER 2013 SKEPTICAL CROSSWORD, which has Conspiracy Theories as its theme;

not to mention NOVEMBER 2013 LOGIC & MATHS PROBLEMS

No Comments
October 24, 2013

November 2013 Logic & Maths Problems – Solutions

1. There are five occurrences
tile trial a
2. 11 people
3. Seven of these and six of those
4. 86
5. 13 Red 3 yellow 3 brown 3 blue 4 pink
6. a (see below)
7. 44 Years
8. 47 cards
9. 490 m
10. a. thirty-three cubes b. eighteen cubes

Question 6: There are three types of linkages between the wheels / gears in the diagram:

For toothed wheels or gears meshing, the driver wheel and the driven wheel rotate counter to each other

2toothedwheels

When linked by a belt, both wheels rotate in the same direction.

beltpulley

When linked by an inverted belt, the rotation of the driven wheel is counter to that of the driver

inverted belt pulley

Applying all that to the diagram in question 6, and indicating clockwise rotation with a “C“,  anti clockwise rotation with a “CC“, we get

nov13_6soln

Uncategorised 2 Comments
October 19, 2013

November 3013 “Mixed Bag”- Answers

1. Cabbage(21), pea(22), Leek(33), carrot(75)

2. (a) Martin; (b) George; (c) Lennox; (d) Michael; (e) Cameron

3. It was the first to be televised in Australia

4. Warren Mitchell

5. Gemstones

6. Sicily

7. 1994

8. 1500 metres

9. Foxy Loxy

10. Groucho Marx

“Next Level”:

11. Duke of York (later King George VI)

12. The first (and only?) married couple to fly together in space

13. Prince William

14. a tennis surface as used in The Australian Open

15. 1905

16. 2003

17. Goal keeper

18. 1929

19. United States and Britain

20. William Wyler (12)

21. San Juan, Puerto Rico

22. Sensis

23. All ships of The First Fleet

24. eleven

25. First to swim the English Channel underwater

26. He discovered that rubella in pregnancy can cause congenital blindness and deafness

27. Elizabeth Arden

28. On the moon

29. Ireland

30. Survived a 5  km fall without a parachute (practically unscathed)

Uncategorised No Comments
October 19, 2013

“Mixed Bag” Questions November 2013 – Answers

1. Cabbage(21), pea(22), Leek(33), carrot(75)

2. (a) Martin; (b) George; (c) Lennox; (d) Michael; (e) Cameron

3. It was the first to be televised in Australia

4. Warren Mitchell

5. Gemstones

6. Sicily

7. 1994

8. 1500 metres

9. Foxy Loxy

10. Groucho Marx

“Next Level”:

11. Duke of York (later King George VI)

12. The first (and only?) married couple to fly together in space

13. Prince William

14. a tennis surface as used in The Australian Open

15. 1905

16. 2003

17. Goal keeper

18. 1929

19. United States and Britain

20. William Wyler (12)

21. San Juan, Puerto Rico

22. Sensis

23. All ships of The First Fleet

24. eleven

25. First to swim the English Channel underwater

26. He discovered that rubella in pregnancy can cause congenital blindness and deafness

27. Elizabeth Arden

28. On the moon

29. Ireland

30. Survived a 5 km fall without a parachute (practically unscathed)

Uncategorised No Comments
October 2, 2013

Science Talent Search 2013

by Chris Guest

For the 11th consecutive year, the Australian Skeptics are a proud sponsor of the Science Teachers of Victoria’s annual Science Talent Search. 2013 marks the sixty-second year of this important event.

Each year thousands of Victorian school students from lower Primary to Year 12 enter science projects in the categories of experimental research, working models and inventions, computer programs, science photography, games, essays and posters in a state wide competition.

2012stsmodelsinventionscollage

This is a small sample of entries in last year’s Working Models and inventions category. (Click on the picture to enlarge it).

View More Science Talent Search 2013

No Comments
September 30, 2013

October Puzzles

puzzles graphicNew Picture Puzzles and “Mixed Bag” Questions are in place on our PUZZLES PAGE.

This month’s CROSSWORD PUZZLE is the third in our series on the Logical Fallacies theme.

And as always, there’s a set of MATHS & LOGIC PROBLEMS

Enjoy!

No Comments